By Shari Kaplan
The Los Gatos Union School District stands to gain a windfall of approximately $350,000 over the 1996-97 school year, thanks to the early July decision by the California Legislature to add nearly $3 billion in educational funding to the state budget.
Of the $3 billion, $771 million is earmarked to provide an incentive for elementary schools to reduce class sizes. The state will pay $650 for every student in classrooms with 20 or less students; participating schools must accomplish this reduction in first and second grades, while reductions to kindergarten and third-grade classes are optional.
According to LGUSD Assistant Superintendent Steve Peck and business manager Mike Brandy, the district has already undergone many changes to achieve its class-reduction goals in the first and second grades. The additional, optional reductions will be discussed later in the year.
The LGUSD Board of Trustees has authorized the hiring of eight new teachers specifically for this program, as well as the purchase of several new modular units in which they will teach.
"The challenge for us is facilities--where we're going to put the new classes," Peck had said prior to the passage of the state budget.
Much of the $350,000, Brandy said, will go toward paying the additional teachers' salaries. Any remaining monies will be used for facilities, furniture and classroom supplies.
Brandy said he does not foresee any school programs being sacrificed, only rearranged while the district adjusts to extra classes popping up in all of its elementary schools at once--Blossom Hill, Daves Avenue, Lexington and Van Meter.
"Some of our specialized programs will be getting squeeze--the dedicated science programs in some schools may become more itinerant," Brandy said.
Some rooms formerly used to house science labs will now be filled with students. The science programs will remain but may not be fixed to a certain part of campus. An extra physical-education classroom was taken over here, a portable was put to better use there--every school has found some room.
The mid-October arrival of the portables will be especially welcome at Daves Avenue, where Brandy says some teachers will begin the school year teaching in "borrowed spaces," such as the music room and an old boardroom formerly used by the district.
"They're kind of small, but since these classes are only 20 [students], it won't be that crowded anyway," Brandy said, adding that setting up shop in locales such as the cafeteria or library would not be conducive to student learning or concentration.
Although the state budget has also set aside $200 million to allow districts to construct or purchase the facilities needed for class-size reduction, Brandy is unsure whether the LGUSD will receive one of the $25,000 one-time grants.
To qualify, a district must conform to the statewide definition of "loaded," which means an average of 30 or more students per classroom. Because the LGUSD is not near this figure, Brandy speculated that the district will be a low priority among all the other districts hoping for grants.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, August 7, 1996.
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